Earlier this month, Local 401 of the United Food and Commercial Workers union published an update on their website regarding negotiations for Calgary education workers.
The 50 or so workers are employed with Calgary Quest Children’s Society as teachers, therapists, instructional assistants, kitchen staff, janitorial staff, and life planning coordinators.
Calgary Quest is a non-profit formed in 1980 to run a private school focused on special education. They also provide a life skills programme for young adults with developmental disabilities.
These workers had their most recent collective agreement expire just last month, so negotiations have only just recently started.
Local 401 isn’t sharing a whole lot about what they’ll be asking from the employer. They’ve asked for the elimination of the company’s ick note policy, as well as for a 3-year contract with a 10% wage increase in each of those 3 years.
Now, a 30% raise might seem like a lot for a private school to pay their workers, but it’s important to keep things in perspective.
According to the August 2024 Collective Agreement Wage Tables for educational services, these workers have received the following wage increases over the last 6 years:
| 2018 | 0.50% |
| 2019 | 1.00% |
| 2020 | 2.00% |
| 2021 | 0.50% |
| 2022 | 1.25% |
| 2023 | 2.00% |
That’s a combined 7.25%—or 7.46% if we account for compound increases—over the last two contracts. That works out to an average of 1.24% per year.
By comparison, the consumer price index in Alberta sat at 137.0 in September 2017 but had increased to 166.0 by September 2023. That’s an increase of 29 points, or 21.17%.
So, during the 6 years that these workers have been receiving wage increases totalling 7.46%, inflation rose at nearly 3 times the rate! That leaves these workers with a cut to real wages—wages adjusted for inflation—of 13.71%.
Nearly half of the 30% increase would be going to just making up the loss to real wages, leaving an increase of 16.29% for this contract, after helping these workers catch up to runaway inflation over the last 3 years.
The remaining 16.29% increase will need to cover inflation during the life of the new contract as well. And between September 2023 and July 2024, inflation has already increased 2.65% in Alberta.
One reply on “Calgary education workers want 30% raise”
As a father that has son with an intellectual disability I would like to comment on this school. To be clear this is a totally segregated school, the kids do not have the benefit of learning environment that includes all kids. The out comes for these kids later in life have proven to be very poor. Many will never reach their full potential due to this segregated school environment. It has been proven that these kids all excel when taught in regular classrooms.
Being a union worker my entire life and fighting for my son to be in a regular classroom is proof enough for me.
I usually support union work. places but not this one.